By Natalie Kainz - NBC News
An Illinois man won $390,000 in the lottery thanks to a mistake by the gas station attendant who sold him the ticket, the Michigan Lottery said.
Michael Sopejstal, 60, was awarded the Lucky for Life lottery after he bought the winning ticket on Sept. 17 at a GoLo gas station in New Buffalo, Michigan.
"I asked the seller for ten tickets, but he accidentally printed only one with ten columns of numbers for the same draw, but I still told him I wanted it," Sopejstal said in a Michigan Lottery news release.
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Sopejstal said he usually buys a Lucky for Life ticket for 20 to <> drawings almost every week when he visits Michigan, where he travels to eat at his favorite restaurant.
To take home the annual $25,000 prize, Sopejstal matched the five winning numbers ranging from 1 to 48. In his case they were 11, 15, 17, 24, and 48. The jackpot requires people to match an extra Lucky Ball, plus all five numbers chosen, and awards the lucky ones $1,000 a day for life.
"I immediately started thinking about all the things I could do with the money and whether I was interested in the option of a lump sum payment or an annual pension. It was an amazing feeling!" said Sopejstal.
In the end, he decided he wanted a one-time payment of $390,000, which he plans to use for travel and savings, he told the Michigan Lottery.
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He could also have opted for annual payments of $25,000 for 20 years or for life, whichever was greater.
Lucky For Life tickets cost $2 per play, and drawings take place at 10:38 p.m. daily. The week of Thanksgiving a person in Ohio took home the same prize as Sopejstal.